Armed Forces: Council Tax

Lord Astor of Hever: My right honourable friend the Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans (Mr Robathan) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Further to the Statement made by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Dr Fox) on 16 May 2011 (Official Report, cols. 25-27) regarding the Armed Forces covenant, I am today announcing that the increase of the rate of council tax relief for service personnel deployed on specified operations overseas from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, to commence from 1 July 2011. This further underlines our commitment to rebuilding the Armed Forces covenant, that unique bond between the Armed Forces, the Government and the nation.

Council for Science and Technology

Baroness Wilcox: My right honourable friend the Minister for Universities and Science has today made the following Statement.
	The Prime Minister has appointed 11 new members to the CST. This process was made in accordance with the rules of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
	The CST is the UK Government's top-level advisory body on science and technology policy issues. It reports directly to the Prime Minister. CST's remit is to advise the Prime Minister on strategic science and technology policy issues that cut across the responsibilities of individual government departments.
	The newly appointed members are:
	Professor Keith Burnett FRS-Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University;Professor Steven Cowley-CEO of the UKAEA; Professor Dame Sandra Dawson-Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University;Mr Rowan Douglas-CEO of Willis Re Global Analytics and Chairman of Willis Research Network;Dr Paul Golby FREng-Chairman and CEO of E.ON UK and Pro-Chancellor of Aston University;Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow FMedSci-Vice-Chancellor University of Kent;Dr Michael Lynch-CEO of Autonomy Corporation plc; Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell FRS FMedSci-President and Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University; Mr Colin Smith FREng-Director of Engineering and Technology at Rolls-Royce;Professor Christopher Snowden FRS FREng-Vice-Chancellor and CEO of Surrey University; and Dr Graham Spittle-Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer Europe at IBM and Chair of the Technology Strategy Board.Earlier this year the Prime Minister reappointed five CST members:Professor Dame Janet Finch CBE-Professor of Sociology Manchester University and ex-Vice-Chancellor of Keele University;Dr Hermann Hauser Hon CBE, FREng-Venture Capitalist and co-Founder of Amadeus Capital Partners;Professor Alan Hughes-Director of the Centre for Business Research at Cambridge University;Professor Michael Sterling FREng-Chairman of the Science and Technology Facilities Council and ex-Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham University; andSir Mark Walport FMedSci FRS-Director of the Wellcome Trust;together with four ex-officio members:the President of the Royal Society-Sir Paul Nurse FRS;the President of the Royal Academy of Engineering- Lord Browne FRS FREng;the President of the Academy of Medical Sciences- Sir John Bell PMedSci FRS Hon FREng; and the President of the British Academy-Sir Adam Roberts FBA.
	The Prime Minister also reappointed Professor Dame Janet Finch as independent co-chair of CST for one year, alongside the Government's Chief Scientific Advisor, currently Professor Sir John Beddington.
	Full details of CST's terms of reference and organisation can be found at http://www.bis.gov.uk/cst.

Gypsies and Travellers

Baroness Hanham: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Andrew Stunell) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The Government have on 29 June published the Count of Gypsy and Traveller Caravans undertaken on 27 January 2011, along with experimental statistics on the count of Travelling Showpeople caravans.
	Copies have been placed in the Library of House and can be accessed via the Department for Communities and Local Government website at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/caravancountjan2011.

Justice: Compensation

Lord McNally: My right honourable friend the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Kenneth Clarke) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I am pleased to announce the appointment of the right honourable Dame Janet Smith DBE as the new independent assessor of miscarriages of justice compensation under Section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. The assessor is appointed under Schedule 12 to the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
	The assessor's role is to assess the amount of compensation to be paid under Section 133 once Ministers have decided that the eligibility criteria are met. Neither Ministers nor civil servants play any role in the assessment of compensation and I am required by Section 133(4) to accept the award made by the assessor. The assessor plays no role in deciding whether an applicant is eligible under Section 133.
	Dame Janet, who retired as an appeal court judge in May, replaces Lord Brennan of Bibury QC who has held the position since 27 July 2001 and whose term of office comes to an end on 26 July 2011. Lord Brennan indicated that he did not wish to be appointed for a further term. Dame Janet will take up her appointment on 1 July, which will initially be for two years.
	The assessor is an office holder rather than a public appointment so the appointment rules of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) are not required to be followed. However, the previous assessor was appointed following an open recruitment campaign using OCPA guidance.
	However, in considering who should be appointed to the role I consulted the Lord Chief Justice and he recommended Dame Janet. I was delighted to accept his recommendation.
	Dame Janet is eminently qualified for the role. She has extensive experience of the assessment of damages in personal injury litigation. As a former Lady Justice of Appeal she will continue the robust independence which her predecessors have brought to the role. As well as my full confidence she will have the confidence of applicants and their representatives.
	Finally, I am extremely grateful to Lord Brennan for the very high level of service he has provided over the past 10 years.

Nuclear Weapons

Lord Astor of Hever: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Liam Fox) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	As part of his Statement on the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) on 19 October 2010, my right honourable friend the Prime Minister said that we had reviewed our deterrence requirements and concluded that we could meet the requirement for an effective and credible deterrent with a smaller number of nuclear weapons, and over the next few years would reduce the scale of the current deployed capability, incorporating this reduction into plans for the successor submarine. Therefore, we would reduce the number of warheads on board each submarine from a maximum of 48 to a maximum of 40, reduce the number of operational missiles in the Vanguard class submarines to no more than eight, and reduce the number of operational warheads from fewer than 160 to no more than 120.
	I wish to inform the House that the programme for implementing the SDSR warhead reductions has commenced: at least one of the Vanguard class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) now carries a maximum of 40 nuclear warheads. The programme of work to complete these changes across the Vanguard SSBN fleet will be completed within the constraints of the deterrent's operational programme. We currently expect completion to be made within this Parliament. The Government do not comment upon the operational programme and therefore updates on this implementation programme will not be given. I will update the House further once the changes have been completed across the current SSBN fleet and the SDSR commitment to reducing our stock of operationally deployed warheads has been fulfilled. On current plans our expectation is that the subsequent reduction in our total stockpile to no more than 180 warheads will be completed by the mid 2020s.
	The early commencement of the programme for these reductions in warheads is a significant step and further demonstrates the Government's commitment to fulfilling the UK's disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Government remain committed to maintaining the minimum credible deterrent necessary to achieve our deterrence objectives of guaranteeing national security.